Tahoe -- Running at a Distance

Apparently I missed out on a really fun run this morning! From the looks of my teammate's comments on Facebook, there was a major after-run celebration that involved not only breakfast, but also shots! (Not sure of what...tequila?) The drinks were in honor of Michelle's birthday. (I ran with Michelle last spring, too; she's now a mentor.)

I missed the team run in Danville because I'm in Tahoe! I did get a run in, but it wasn't the full 8 miles (or even 6) that I was scheduled to run. I settled for about 4, which I thought was pretty good considering Chris and I went mountain biking before my run, and the elevation is much higher here! Distance aside, it was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outdoors in Tahoe. The lake is so phenomenally blue I can't get over it! We took a few pictures that I'll post once back home.

I'm hoping to get another 4-mile run in tomorrow, but Chris and I also want to go hiking and maybe even bouldering outdoors, so I'll just see how my body feels. Right now I'm pleasantly exhausted!

NO WIMPS, or how to beat the heat

Tonight's buddy run at Heather Farms was a challenge! It was still in the 90-degree range (according to my car's thermometer) at 6:30pm. Yowsers! The ice I had put in my water bottle before leaving the house was already melted when I met up with the team. But Team In Training has a motto: NO WIMPS!

I was impressed with everyone who showed up to run -- there were 20 of us. No one melted down, and everyone had a good attitude about being out there in the heat. I ran for 40 minutes -- an even split of 20 minutes each way. My water was gone before the end of the run. The fact that it was lukewarm didn't stop me in the slightest from chugging it down.

I haven't had a consistent running buddy or group of buddies yet this season. At first it was strange since I was used to my core group of gals from the spring team (who I miss, dearly, and am seeing for dinner next week -- Yahoo!). But it's actually been fun running with different people. I've logged miles with Julie, who's doing extra weekly distance so she can run the Nike full marathon in mid-October. I've also run with Kelsie, a friend of Andrea's (who was on my team last season and is now a mentor), and "Coach" Gary, who's actually just a participant this fall -- it's his 10th year doing TNT!

Tonight I ran most of the way with Kyle. He's a Michiganite who moved to the Bay Area about a year ago with his longtime sweetheart, Clara. Clara's actually the one that got him and their friends, Sara and Don (also a couple from Michigan), to join TNT. The four of them are lots of fun; they seem to have really taken to the Bay Area.

After my run, I headed straight to my in-laws to see Shannon (my sister-in-law) and the boys. They flew in today for Labor Day weekend. Those boys have more energy than they know what to do with! Course, after being couped up on a plane all day, I might, too! If I could just harness that energy and use it during my races, I'd be set!

Spirit Box

As Team Oz's community captain, it was my "job" to come up with a weekly team spirit award, so I bought a Wizard of Oz lunch pail. Stop laughing! Here's the idea: Each week, an outstanding participant will be awarded the Spirit Box -- someone who embodies heart, brains, and/or courage. It will be given out at the Saturday run, and inside will be something that represents heart, brains, and/or courage. This could be anything -- a poem, a photo of a personal honoree, some funny tchotchke, etc. Ideally, it will be something that will inspire/motivate the outstanding participant or at least make them laugh and want to keep working hard.

I put something in the Spirit Box yesterday and awarded it to our first recipient, Janice Chan! She's one of our team honorees and has been in remission from Hodgkin's Lymphoma for a year; she's also training to run with the team. Next week, she'll add something to the Spirit Box and I'll award it to someone new. The contents of the box will grow over the season; it'll be like an arsenal of inspiration, motivation and fun for whoever receives it. (And if we outgrow the lunch box, because it's sort of small, I'll get a canvas bag with a Wizard of Oz theme.)

GO TEAM!

Honoree Potluck: Sufficiently Inspired

Today's honoree potluck (following our 6-mile run) was amazing. I'm a bit at a loss for words. I have my own connection to the LLS cause, but meeting and hearing the stories of our team honorees was phenomenal. I can hardly begin to imagine what they've been through. Listening to them describe their experiences -- the physical and emotional roller coasters they've ridden -- with smiles on their faces, was immensely inspirational. I'm so honored to run for all of them.

Chris asked me at the beginning of the fall season why I was running with TNT again. After all, I'm capable of running on my own, having done the SF Marathon (half) in early August. Today is why. It's not just about running and feeling healthy, or trying to set a new personal best. It's about the team camaraderie and, most of all, it's about the amazing individuals I run in honor of. It's about raising money for something I believe in; something that can really make a difference in the world. Something much larger than me.

Woefully behind

I know, I'm horribly behind in blogging about the new training season. I got caught up in a big project at work that consumed me day and night. I hope to catch up this weekend with my posts.

In the meantime, I've at least posted some new photos to look at, including the one here from Marathon University. http://laurapayette.shutterfly.com/

Solo run in SF

I'm so bummed to have missed Thursday night's buddy run! I managed to at least get a run in on my own (50 minutes); it was the first fresh air I'd gotten in two days. (I worked 26 hours in two days)

I ran along the Marina and Crissy Field - the same route that the half-marathon followed on August 3. It was so foggy you couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge above the base piles in the water.

There are these really cool art installations all along Crissy Field right now - they're huge globes that have been decorated with different global warming themes (http://www.coolglobes.com/sanfran.php). I wanted to stop to look more closely, but I had to just get the run done so I could go back to work.

At the end of my run there was a huge group of runners stretching together. I thought it might have been a San Francisco TNT team, but they didn't do any cheers at the end before heading out to run. Definitely NOT TNT! I can't wait to run with everyone Saturday; it's so much more fun to run as a team than it is to go it alone. Go Team!

Team Oz's First Coached Run

Our fall team has a name: Team Oz (with a Cause)! Yes, as in “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.” Why? Because we have brains, heart, and courage! (Hey, it takes a lot to run a marathon and raise money to cure blood-related cancers.) Being that I’m so modest, I won’t mention that I suggested the team name…

OK, I had to set myself up to look good because I certainly had a bit of a short circuit before driving to San Ramon for our coached run on Saturday. In my brilliance, I printed out Coach Al’s email with directions while at work on Friday. When I got into the car to plug the address into my GPS Saturday morning, I looked at the printout, and…no address.

Well, plan B. I can follow directions without a GPS! I scanned the printout to get a sense of where to head. Great idea, except the directions were incomplete – there was no freeway exit! The directions started with me being in San Ramon on Albion Way, wherever the heck that was! Did someone not want me to be at the run?

I fell back on my failsafe and got out the paper map. (Well, the big fat “book” with all the roads in the county.) I found Albion, but it wasn’t in San Ramon. Huh? Not feeling certain I could trust the map, I finally ran back inside, booted up the laptop and made myself a Google map. Took an extra 10 minutes, but at least I didn’t have to frantically call a teammate for directions while en route!

After all that drama, the first run turned out great! loved everyone’s energy and enthusiasm, particularly at 8am. We ran two miles for time – not as a race, but just to get a sense of ability. Since I know my pace, I thought I’d see how fast I could “comfortably” run the two miles. I finished in 17:10; not bad! That’s two minutes per mile faster than my half-marathon pace, so definitely not sustainable, but that wasn’t my goal!

I really enjoyed meeting my new teammates. I tried to introduce myself to as many new faces as possible and to at least learn names (if only for a fleeting moment), as well as what brought everyone to TNT. I’m looking forward to our buddy runs this week to continue to get to know folks.

I posted photos online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapayette/sets/72157606757581349. I’ll have to work on my technique, though – most of the images turned out rather far away, but I captured the run!

GO TEAM!

2:16:25, or Hold Onto Your Hats!

I ran my first half- marathon this morning! It took 2:16:25, about 10:25 mile/min.

Not too bad, particularly given the hills! That’s about the pace what I wanted to run, and now the quest is on to beat my time later this fall in San Antonio, where the course is flat.

Probably my biggest challenge today (other than persevering at the end, when my legs just wanted to slow down), was keeping my hat on my head. Sounds silly, I know, but it flew off twice -- once on the Golden Gate Bridge and again near the end of the race on 27^th Avenue. Fortunately, I didn’t get mowed down trying to retrieve it and nobody stepped on it. Phew! My hair isn’t quite long enough to be in a ponytail by itself, and what does fit in a hair band is pretty tiny. So sans hat, I would’ve been wiping sweat and hair out of my face – ick.

Come to think of it, I was also dexterously challenged. Just before mile 12 I felt my energy level drop (despite having gooed it up at the halfway point), so I whipped a mini-Clif bar that I had gotten at the expo yesterday out of my Camelback (love that thing), but then I couldn’t open it! Although my core was warm, my hands were fairly numb and, even using my teeth, I couldn’t grab the edge of the wrapper to pull hard enough to open it. I feared the bar flying into the air and hitting someone or, let’s face it, landing on the ground where I couldn’t eat it. Well, the bar did hit the ground, but not before I got it open. Disaster averted! I finally managed an opening large enough to work the bar through. Next time, I’ll open the bar before I ever leave the house and cut it into pieces to facilitate eating it.

Overall, the race was fun and really well organized. I loved that we started in staggered waves (versus San Diego, where we were segmented into waves but everyone started together). The only thing that didn’t work very well was after crossing the finish line. They herded us into a narrow corral to hand out medals and it was complete gridlock. You couldn’t move anywhere and, since I had somehow managed to “sprint” the end, I needed to keep moving so my muscles wouldn’t seize up on me. Alas, I was literally trapped among a sea of sweaty runners.

But we managed to inch our way forward and out, find a bus and get back to the car. After a stop at Starbucks for coffee and the restroom, we were off. Amazing, I was home by 10am!

New Season, New Blog

I've started this new blog to chronicle the fall TNT season. You can still view my original blog for the spring season at laurapayette.vox.com. I won’t take it down!

Brand New Season

It's official, we have kicked off the fall Team In Training season! I’m super excited to train with the team again and to get to know all of the participants. I think most are feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation (e.g., “What have I signed up for?!”). I just hope they have as much fun as I did, and it’s part of my “job” as community captain to make sure that happens! (No pressure)

We have eight or nine team honorees already this season! A few of them spoke at kickoff this morning in Berkeley, and they were amazing. Some are even going to be training for an event with the team. I’m so honored to be paying tribute to them. I’m trying to get Julie to be a team honoree, as well. She’s the aunt of my friend (and former co-worker), Nicole. Julie has successfully marked the first 100+ days following her bone marrow transplant. That’s not to say she’s out of the woods, but she’s steadily recovering.

The Off-Season

I’ve been running regularly since late June, mostly with Kirsten and Tonya, but also with other folks from the spring team. It’s amazing to think how much I used to enjoy running alone, plugged into my iPod. Now I can’t imagine not running with at least one other person. In fact, tomorrow I’m running the first half of the San Francisco Marathon with Kirsten!

In theory, you can follow along as I run by going to www.runraceresults.com/live1!. (Not sure whether the exclamation point is part of the URL or not, so you may have to try it without.) My bib number is 10151. If that URL doesn't work (it isn't live yet), try simply www.runraceresults.com. The race starts at 5:30 AM -- yes, as in really, really early. Fortunately, I'm not ridiculously fast, so I don't start until wave 8, at 6:25am! More on the outcome after it's all said and done!